Copyright Questions and Answers for Information Professionals: From the Columns of Against the Grain

Abstract

The intricacies of copyright law can be difficult to navigate for even the most knowledgeable of information professionals. While there are many books available to help with this daunting task, few are as much a pleasure to read as Laura Gasaway's Copyright Questions and Answers for Information Professionals. Gasaway has written a column in the periodical Against the Grain for almost fifteen years, in which she answers questions posed by Against the Grain readers. Copyright Questions and Answers is a compilation of those columns. This work is organized into thirteen chapters and an epilogue that cover everything from copyright basics to emerging challenges in copyright. In between, there are chapters on copies for users, permissions, performance, recordings, interlibrary loan, preservation, the Internet, and digitization. Also included are an appendix, “When U.S. Works Pass into the Public Domain” that features easy-to-read chart and an extensive index that gives page and question numbers for each topic. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of the chapter topic as an introduction. Almost any question a librarian could think of pertaining to copyright is covered in this book. Who owns the copyright of a letter, the writer or the recipient? Are emails copyrighted? Or photographs? Is it better to post links to a web page, or can you reproduce it on your own website? Is it enough to obtain permission for use through an email, or do you need it in a hard copy? These are just a few examples of the many questions that Gasaway answers in a clear, accessible style. The work has a “plain language” approach, which is welcome for a subject that can often be confusing and sometimes dull. It is a different format than more traditional books on copyright, such as Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators (ALA Editions; 2012; ISBN: 978-0-8389-1092-4) by Kenneth Crews, because Gasaway is answering questions posed by real-life librarians. For example, in chapter 10, which covers interlibrary loan and document delivery, the following question is asked: “More and more frequently the library is being asked to reproduce a whole journal for document delivery. Is there any reason not to do this?” (p. 190). Gasaway's answer begins, “There certainly are reasons not to reproduce entire journal issues for document delivery. The first question is what is meant by ‘document delivery.’” Gasaway then explains that there are different answers to that question depending on whether the “document delivery” is inside an organization or to an outside entity. An example from chapter 4 on permissions and licensing is, “What are the copyright rules for downloadable books?: (p. 75), and the answer, “It is more likely that the downloading of e-books is governed by a license agreement (contract) rather than just by copyright law. Copyright certainly applies, but a license agreement most likely covers such e-book issues as access, reproduction, distribution, display, and so forth.” Gasaway is well qualified to answer copyright questions, and her credentials are spelled out in the book's foreword. She is the Paul B. Eaton Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. She was “co-chair of…a task force appointed by the U.S. Copyright Office to study section 108 of the Copyright Act and suggest needed changes” (p. ix). But as Gasaway explains in the preface, she is more than an expert on copyright law. She is also a librarian. She earned her master's of library science in 1968 and worked in the University of Houston Law Library while going to law school there. Her interest in copyright was sparked by the Williams & Wilkins Company v. United States, which affirmed the right of the National Library of Medicine to provide copies to medical researchers. This alone should endear her and her book to medical librarians. Copyright Questions and Answers for Information Professionals is a valuable reference tool, expertly written by an authority on the subject. I highly recommend it for its thorough coverage of copyright issues and its straightforward answers to copyright questions librarians all have.